Photos need opinions.....

First the before photo of our bedside lamp (dh has the matching one on his side)

 

 This is the after photo, I like it and it's big enough, although the stager  said to put a couple of hardback books underneath them to make them higher?

 The girly things I picked up for the spare bedroom.  The stager want's a white flower in the vase.  I am not a fan of the vase so may take it back.  The white thing is a jewelry holder and I think I would be able to use that in our next home and the little Scottie dog is cute.  The stager liked all items.

 The mirror in the bathroom I think needs to be bigger and dh says another colour.  What do you think?  The white things on the corners are the packing as I haven't removed any of the packing so I can take it back if I want to.

Got the back splash in the kitchen tiled yesterday, today is grouting day which neither me nor dh like, but the sooner it is done the sooner it is over with!!

Out and about on Friday

I left the house just before 9 am on Friday and it was after 2 pm when I got back in.  Who knew shopping could be so stressful and tiring?  Oh and expensive.  I got most of the things on my list but still have some things to get.  Shopping used to be fun when I was younger, now it's just another chore.

I am too tired to post photos, but will get to it. 

Today's a fun Christmas tune:

Busy, busy

Busy, as always with one thing and another.  Got all the stairs prepped on Thursday ready to paint the first coat on Friday.  I have taken a before photo and will take an after one when I get the second coat painted on Monday.  Also helped dh with tiling the back splash in the kitchen.  It's coming along slowly but surely.  Even made a start on taping the kitchen ready to start painting that on Monday as well.  We are hoping to have the remainder of the tiling done in the kitchen by end of day on Sunday and the kitchen painted by end of day Tuesday.

I am hitting the mall and Barrie today to finish my Christmas shopping and see if I can find some things that are one my list for the house staging.  Homesense will be my store of choice I think.  I need towels, a large bathroom mirror, a couple of bedside lamps and some "girly" knick-knacks for the spare bedroom???

Talked with dd and Miss Nora is up to 6 lbs 9 oz, so she is putting weight on nicely.  Also dd blood pressure is back to normal, so that's good as well.

Something a little light hearted for today's Christmas tune:

More photos of Miss Nora.....

This is the birth announcement:

 Miss Nora has such a hard life as shown here!!!

She is a cutie; I know I am biased.  Won't be seeing her again for a couple of weeks.

On a totally different subject, poor dh has been chosen for jury duty AGAIN.  This is his third time; he's not happy!!!

Today a very classic Christmas song:



And because we are a bilingual country, here it is in French:

More about moving.....

A couple of you have been asking why we are moving.  I wrote about it in this post.

I know I was whining about the home stager yesterday and am still not 100% happy but I am coming to terms with all the ideas and what needs to be done.  Dh however is still very stressed at getting all the jobs done in time.  I do think it will all be completed in time it's just going to be work, work, work until the house is ready to put on the market.

The very first sentence of the Home Staging book she left say:

"Staging is always less then the first price reduction."

That is oh so true.  The one reason we need to stage this house as we have a country property and it's not as easy to sell a country property.  At one time you had to bargain on having your house on the market for up to a year or two.  We're hoping it will be on the market three months at the most with having this lady stage our house.  She seems confident it will be sold in that time frame.

I did go out on Tuesday and look around a couple of stores for things I need to purchase, but other than the paint for the stairs I got nothing.  However dd called and we talked through everything we need and she is going to lend me her Sophie Conran Portmeirion white pieces so that will be good.

We need to purchase a dining room set as we are making the "parlour" into a formal dining room.  I found a set on Kijiji that I am going to follow up on.  It's on for $250, has nice lines and will fit the period of the house fine, but hoping to only pay $150 at the most for it.

Our kitchen table is 8 feet long and too big for the room, but suits us fine and I want to take it with us when we move.  So have spoken to the people who did our kitchen and they think they can cut it down and use what they cut out to make leaves in the table.  We also need 16 feet of custom baseboard/skirting board made for the parlour/dining room, as some is missing, so they are making that also.

We fortunately have nice art work, so that isn't an issue.  Everyone who has been through the house these past few days have commented on that and the lights in the kitchen.

We are on tiling the back splash, as as soon as that is done and I have re-painted the bloody kitchen walls again I will take photos of it all finished.

So that is where we are at, at the moment with the house prep.  

Very, very overwhelmed....

We had a home stager come through the house yesterday, and she was a whirlwind of a woman.  She did write things down but not everything and by the time she got to the family room, she had gone through the rest of the main floor, my poor head was pounding.  So I said I will not be able to remember all of this, how much do you cost per hour to come in when we get the photos done.  She costs $125 an hour and would probably be here all morning {SIGH}

HOWEVER, she is one of the best around and when she stages houses they sell.  I had to laugh though I am re-painting the bloody kitchen again as she didn't like the colour I have painted it, just like dh; it makes the kitchen too cold looking she says?  I will also be painting the mud room and the living room the same colour; Benjamin Moore Fogmist OC31

So I need to go shopping for odds and ends that she wants either changed out, replaced or added.  I will say she recommended Wal-Mart, Homesense and Giant Tiger for everything.  Her vision was great and what she has in mind was good, but how on earth we are supposed to live here is beyond me while we sell the place.  Also we have a lot of work to do in such a short time as we hope to have it on the market by mid-February, depending on the weather.

I will write another post about putting a house up for sale and especially a country property like ours, as it is a totally different kettle of fish from selling a house in the city.  Dh and I need to sit down and go over everything and decide a plan of action as neither of us could even be bothered to talk after she had left last night.

Should say the real estate agent paid for yesterday's appointment, not sure if she will pay for her to come in before the photos are taken?

Enough of selling the house, lets here a bit of Christmas music.  I hadn't heard this Celine Dian version of this song before, enjoy:

I forgot it was December?

I was so busy with one thing and another yesterday I forgot to post my daily Christmas tune on my blog???

So I will post two today.  First a classic that everyone knows and loves:


 Then here is a not so classic song sung by the Dixie Chicks and Rosie O'Donnell:

Hoping to have more time in the coming days to fill you in on all that is going on.